Valerie Rucker-Bussie Joins Rizing Tide as Community Development Officer

By Rizing Tide Team | January 13, 2025
Professional headshot of Dr. Valerie Rucker-Bussie, PT, DPT, NCS. Behind the photo is a desaturated blue and beige background with a circle made of wavy lines.

Rizing Tide is excited to welcome Valerie Rucker-Bussie, PT, DPT, NCS, as its new Community Development Officer. A seasoned physical therapist with a strong focus on workforce development, Valerie brings extensive experience to the table—alongside a fiery passion for improving lives. We recently sat down with Valerie to learn more about her journey, her vision…

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6 Steps to Becoming a Physical Therapy Advocate

By Rizing Tide Team | February 2, 2023
An illustrated black woman shouts into a red megaphone. She's popping out of an illustrated phone that's sitting next to a green potted plant. The background is beige with abstract blue and red accents.

Physical therapy (PT) is a discipline that is often overlooked by both insurers and patients. More than 50% of all Americans over the age of 18 report having a musculoskeletal condition like trauma, back pain, or arthritis—that’s about 259 million people in pain for those keeping track—but very few of those injured seek care. This…

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Telehealth For Me, But Not for Thee: Examining the Biases in Virtual Care

By Rizing Tide Team | January 10, 2023
Illustration of a white medical professional with dark hair standing inside a phone while counseling a white patient with brown hair who's holding his chin thoughtfully.

Telehealth has the potential to expand healthcare access to millions of patients. When used, it supplements health professional shortage areas—it offers a legitimate solution to patient transportation issues. It reliably reduces no-shows, and it gives physical therapists the unique opportunity to walk patients through their HEP in their home environment.  Virtual care is not a…

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Service: Worthy to Do and Worth Doing

By Efosa Guobadia, PT, DPT | July 21, 2022
Headshot of Efosa on a beige background with orange and off-white abstract embellishments

I began this essay while traveling on a plane, during which, every now and again, I gazed through the windows to take in the clouds. I felt hopeful. That is what the clouds have always meant to me: hope, possibility, and the promise of positive change to be found in the unknown if we dare…

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Time to Reimagine The American Dream

By Victoria | June 29, 2022 |
Headshot of Gene Shirokobrod with an orange background and abstract shapes

I opened the building door, ran up the stairs, and stopped by the door to the apartment. It had been about 24 hours since I left Ukraine, the country that I used to call home. I was finally in the U.S. My new home. I looked back to see what was taking my parents so…

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Investigating LGBTQ+ Cultural Competence in Physical Therapy

By Rizing Tide Team | June 28, 2022
Illustration of three people in lab coats in front of a rainbow pride flag

No two patients are exactly alike. In a clinical sense, two patients recovering from the same condition won’t progress in exactly the same way—and in a social sense, those patients will respond differently to their provider interactions. One patient may respond well to detailed explanations about their care, whereas another may respond to light overviews…

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Diversifying the PT Hiring Pool Through HBCUs

By Rizing Tide Team | May 20, 2022 |
Illustrated people of different races and ethnicities standing shoulder to shoulder

Many people who work in or alongside the physical therapy industry are invested in diversifying the PT profession. National PT organizations, like APTA, ACAPT, and APTQI, alongside private companies, are working tirelessly to improve access to physical therapy and ensure that patients feel represented by their PT providers. That said, the PT industry has a…

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